LF low grit stone recs and some general sharpening questions

[aszma]

I dont want to make several posts so im going to list a couple questions as to not take up a ton of space on the forum.

Firstly looking for some recommendations on some good low grit stones mainly for doing chip repairs, thinning, and fixing completely dull knives. My only stone is a 1000/6000 combo stone and repairing dents and chips on a 1000 grit really takes forever especially when I do most of the sharpening and repairs for all my coworkers at my work place.

Secondly after doing some research is 6000 too high for commercial kitchen knives? I feel like I can get that toothy edge I want for work on the 6000 but a couple forum posts are starting to make me think im going too high and maybe investing in a 3000 grit stone would be a good idea?

Thirdly would something like a leather strobe or a higher grit stone be a good investment if I want something to touch up my carbon steel knives while im at work? Or what would be the equivalent of a honing rod but for carbon knives?

 

[Nemo]

There are lots of coarse stone options. There are examples from Suehiro, Gesshin, Shapton, Watanabe, JNS... etc. One feature that they all have is that the coarser and more aggressive they are, the faster they dish so the faster they will need flattening.

An alternative is to use wet & dry sandpaper. Either on a flat sheet of glass or on some kind of holder (I use the Kasfly device). It never dishes, although it does wear out and you will need to replace it. It doesn't have wonderful feedback but you do get to choose the grit that you use.

If you like the edge off your 6k, use it. If you want permission to experiment with 3k or 4k... permission granted!

I sometimes sharpen on Chosera 3k (about 4k JIS), sometimes on Kitayama 8k (not sure, but maybe 10k JIS?). The edge off both is more than adequate in the Kitchen.

I often strop on the Kitayama (dry) if I want to refresh the edge, especially on my cwrbon knives (also works on R2, just takes more strokes). I suspect your 6k would work OK. The problem with leather is that it is a flexible medium which can potentially round the edge or draw out the burr. Don't get me wrong, many people get great edges off leather but the margin for error is less. Have you tried stropping on ceral box cardboard folded over the edge of the bench? You can load it with diamond paste or metal polish if you want (wash the knife afterwards). Dave Martell' rock hard felt and balsa wood are also pretty good semi-rigid stropping media.

 

[Elliot]

For low grit, since you're in SoCal, I would simply get something from Jon. I have heard the 400 is the bees knees.

As for sharpening kitchen knives, eh, I don't go to 6k, but unless you really want to get into sharpening, I don't know if it's worth your time. Chosera 3000, as an example, is my favorite 3k. If I am doing a "full sharpening," I go from 1k to Aizu natural and done. Strop on the stones too, that will help with burr removal.

 

[Benuser]

In addition only: for daily maintenance I use a small piece of Belgian Blue Brocken. A few edge leading strokes as if I were deburring. Hard Arkansas is another, excellent option.
Very old school, I use them with saliva.